Violinist.com: Holocaust-era Instruments Sing Again as JCC Chicago Presents ‘Violins of Hope’

A violin is a remarkable object – a piece of wood that can sing like a human voice. Maybe more remarkably, a violin can sit dormant for years – decades, even – then sing again, with the very same voice it had before its long silence. It just requires the hands of a luthier to restore its condition – and the hands of a musician to deliver its voice once again.

Thus is the power of the Violins of Hope, a collection of some 100 violins, violas and cellos that has been evolving over the past 20 years – curated, owned and restored by violin-makers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein, father and son, who work in Tel Aviv and Istanbul.